Fair access plan outlined

Universities that are failing to attract enough students from poor backgrounds will be expected to offer the most generous bursaries for less well-off students, the head of the new higher education access watchdog said yesterday.

Sir Martin Harris, head of the Office for Fair Access (Offa), said up to £200m a year from new top-up fees could be ploughed back into student bursaries. Universities will be able to charge top-up fees of up to £3,000 from 2006 only once Offa has approved their "access agreements".

Yesterday, Sir Martin published guidelines for such agreements, which state: "We expect that institutions whose records suggest they have furthest to go in attracting a wider range of applications, may wish to invest more than others."

Sir Martin promised a "light touch" in his dealings with universities, appearing to confirm critics' claims that he will champion the cause of universities rather than students.

But he said: "This is a win-win situation. The students are going to benefit, particularly the poorer students."

Sir Martin said there might be a case for acknowledging the efforts of universities that held back 5%-10% of places on oversubscribed courses to help those who did unexpectedly well in their results.

He said it would be a logical first step towards "post-qualification application" to universities, backed by the government and which heads said yesterday could be introduced in four years.

A new report from the Secondary Heads Association said the time between A-level results and the start of the university year could be increased from five to 11 weeks.

In Education Guardian today, Sir Martin explains: "There will be no pre-determined targets or benchmarks, no social engineering; merely a determination ... to seek applications from those most able to benefit."

He said new benchmarks were "not terribly helpful", even though they will still form part of Offa's assessments.

The regulator can withdraw the right to charge top-up fees or fine universities up to £500,000 in extreme cases if they breach their access agreement. But Sir Martin insisted he did not think this was likely in reality.

The Conservative higher education spokesman, Chris Grayling, said: "Offa has nothing to do with improving standards in higher education; rather, it is the creation of Labour backbenchers' blind prejudice."

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